Molecular technologies have become key to a more in-depth understanding of the complex processes and[unreadable] interactions of microbial communities, and are especially important to a mechanistic understanding of[unreadable] bioremediation processes. New tools are constantly being developed to aid this objective but their[unreadable] application and optimization to microbial research under environmentally relevant conditions is not easy.[unreadable] Our overall goal is to use and enhance these technologies for understanding how microbes react to[unreadable] environmental changes in situ rather than simply as laboratory pure cultures. This can best be done by a[unreadable] support core with interacting components. We will develop new tools and[unreadable] discover new genes involved in degradation of polyaromatic compounds. This process will require the[unreadable] support of a variety of enabling technologies, the most central of which are provided and optimized in this[unreadable] support core. The specific aims of this core proposal are to provide needed support in three related areas:[unreadable] (1) microarray development and enhancement, (2) automated bioinformatic analyses of PCR product[unreadable] sequences and biodegradative gene clusters, and (3) high throughput screening and sequencing of[unreadable] environmental clones. The project brings together the strengths of a multidisciplinary team of researchers,[unreadable] each one acting in their own areas of expertise. The Center for Microbial Ecology (CME) and the[unreadable] Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University has developed a microarray[unreadable] platform that will support our proposed genomic analyses. CME's Microbial Informatics Group manages the[unreadable] Ribosomal Database Project and has developed a bioinformatic platform for sequence analyses and other[unreadable] data analysis tools. The Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment at Rutgers University has[unreadable] developed a high throughput screening facility with an emphasis on screening cultures and clones. These[unreadable] three components will form an interacting triad supporting the environmental research projects, and will[unreadable] exchange at a general level strategies and concepts with the Biomedical Informatics core and toxicology[unreadable] projects that use genetic and microarray array technologies.